paris was so dreamy.
people say that parisians are snobby and rude, but i actually found them to be quite kind. in the metro, people actually let others get out of the train before trying to get on, and when everyone’s getting on, they try to accommodate each other, moving out of the way, making room, saying, “pardon, pardon.” it seemed like people actually cared about being a good citizen of the world.
we got there very early on july 13th and had only that day to explore, so we dumped our stuff in the hotel lobby (the room wasn’t available to check in yet) and then got some lunch and explored a cute market nearby.
then went back to the hotel, checked into our room, showered and changed and headed back out to do some sightseeing. everything in paris is so beautiful and romantic. i can see why people call it the city of love. it was actually my second time there, but i was solo the first time and it’s definitely more fun to share the experience. we walked across a bridge above the seine, we passed notre dame and then went to shakespeare and company, a famous bookshop.
inside was sprawling and whimsical, book-lined corridors leading to book-lined rooms, basically the prototype for your most charming, rustic, kind of zany bookshop. there was a reading room upstairs with a window that looked onto the most beautiful view. i think i could die happy if i could read and write there every day. i saw a boy approach another boy and start talking about the books they were reading. later, i saw them leave together, smiling. a meet-cute in the wild! love in the air! paris!
we tried to go to a sandwich place that bre recommended for dinner but it was closed. in our venturing, we ended up at what i assume to be their gay village and had a nice dinner at a restaurant that had a mural of a few gay icons: george michael, freddie mercury, elton john, and cher.
coincidentally, we were in town for the bastille day celebrations because they were having them a day early for some reason. we staked out a spot to watch the fireworks against the eiffel tower. so magical. and the metro ride home wasn’t as bad as i thought it would be considering how crowded the streets were.
early the next day, we headed to provence.
–
our airbnb in provence was so stunning, and we had a pool to ourselves. this would be one of my favourite parts of the trip: coming back after a day of exploring in the heat, having a relaxing swim in the evening cool, and catching up with my sister.
on day 1, we went for an afternoon swim after grabbing some lunch and had a poolside photoshoot. got to take advantage of the picturesque amenities.
then we hopped on a bus to explore aix-en-provence. the city was small enough that we became quite familiar with the sights over the next couple of days. we had coffee at the hotel de caumont and saw its beautiful garden, strolled along and admired the cute shops and squares, and then eventually had dinner at jacquou le croquant, a place that our airbnb host recommended. i foolishly ordered their famous cassoulet even though it was so hot, and orpah ordered a whole fish, which was insane but delicious. truly, we should’ve just shared and split both dishes, but we didn’t. now i can’t help but think of those people who go to dim sum and each have a dish for themselves – strange and crazy!
day 2 started with a wine tour, visiting a couple of wineries, sampling the wine. we were with a cute american couple and our funny french guide. at one point he told me i had a good palette and i felt proud. my favourite part was seeing the strange egg-looking contraptions that one of the wineries stored some of their wine in. made me think of aliens.
upon returning to aix, we decided to go on a train tour through the city that also went up to a spot where cezanne famously painted. to its credit, the view of montagne sainte-victoire (that cezanne often sketched and painted) was very beautiful.
apparently there was a world cup game france was playing in that evening. when we arrived back in aix, we got a bunch of picky bits for girl dinner and skedaddled before the game began. we did not want to be there for the chaos. we would later learn that france had lost the game.
day 3 was lavender fields tour day. sadly, most of the lavender had already been harvested and what lavender remained was quite pale because of the heat, so it was a bit of a bust. but the tour included stops at some old villages and our guide even stopped at a place where we could get a nice view of gourdes, the beautiful hilltop village.
we only stopped because there was an older woman on our tour (who was actually very fun and apparently worked as a lawyer in the pentagon) who seemed kind of underwhelmed by everything else and had mentioned something about gourdes, but she ended up not even getting out of the car, which was hilarious. we got to talking to her at one of the villages and apparently she thought orpah and i were a couple.
“it’s nice that you two get along so well!”
when we’re just siblings who don’t hate each other???
when we got back to aix we had dinner at a cute tapas place, and then perused one of the street markets that stayed open late into the night. it was the first time we’d been in the city centre after sunset, and it was so beautiful, really a different kind of charm.
we decided to go to a nice hotel for some oysters and champagne because it was our last night. and then, for some reason, we decided to find a place to go out.
ended up at karaoke at what seemed like a grunge-themed pub, met a cute girl, drank too much beer, and when we got back to our airbnb, it was chaos. drunk packing, no sleep, and then a disgustingly early train back to paris. we napped on the train and napped again in the hotel in paris.
i was leaving for london that same day, so all we really had time to do was grab some food at a cute diner called bouillon pigalle (we were lucky because apparently there’s usually a line), and then find a vintage-y photobooth near the sacre-coeur that my sister heard about from instagram or something.
and so that was paris and provence! whimsical and dreamy and full of life.
if my visa to stay past september ends up getting approved (fingers crossed), i would like to go back to paris and spend more time there. stroll those romantic winding streets, maybe meet a charming man, maybe fall in love.